Archive for the ‘Pinzgauer’ tag

Our good friend Mike Eldred recently returned to the States from a few weeks in Eastern Europe observing the recent elections in Moldova. Sounds like a good time, doesn’t it? Mike wrote:

It was a real gas to be in the former Soviet Union and the other East Bloc countries. Moldova was kind of a strange country – there wasn’t much in the way of defining culture, it’s just a poor agricultural area, the poorest country in Europe, they say. The conditions for the traveler are very basic, except in the capitol city of Chisinau. But the food was good, the people were nice, and everything was dirt cheap.

The Czech Republic is very European and very western. We stayed in Cesky Krumlov, which is an intact medieval city. I understand that it was somewhat rundown, but after their velvet revolution, a restoration was begun. It’s touristy, but not as “commercial” as other preserved medieval towns like Rothenberg, Germany. On a European standard, it was very inexpensive. (About $70 per night, including breakfast, to stay right in the heart of the old city, in a 14th-century house.) We were only in Bratislava, Slovakia for a day, but it, too, is an intersting city with a well preserved old city surrounded by a more modern city. From castle atop a hill in the city, you can look in one direction over the tiled roofs of the old city, and in another direction you see the Soviet-era apartment blocks – which are surprisingly pleasant, not at all like “the projects” as you might expect.

But this isn’t Travel Channel; this Hemmings Blog, where much talk of old cars is discussed. Mike spotted a few interesting old cars and trucks and shared those pictures with us.

Of the cars, Mike wrote:

The 1960-ish Skoda Felicia Roadster I found in a parking garage in Vienna, Austria. The car hadn’t been on the road in a few years according to the tax disc, and the dust attests. But someone has been paying for the expensive garage space, or it would have been towed.

A Trabant in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. You don’t see many of these anymore – people were too eager to get rid of them, unfortunately.

The two Russian trucks were also in Moldova. The tan one was at a monastery near the Ukranian border – I don’t know the make, model, or year, but it looked pretty capable. There were hundreds of trucks similar to the blue and white one on the roads. Again, I have no idea what it is.

The Lada Niva was the only thing moving when snow brought traffic to a standstill on a Moldovan highway.

The “Snowy Lada” was typical of the hundreds of Ladas running around the roads of Moldova.

The motorcycle was at a town square market at a village in Moldova. I guess the sidecar makes a good cabbage hauler. Again, I don’t know the make and model.

The military truck is another mystery. Making it more difficult to solve is that I’m not sure what country I was in at the time. I was either in Austria or Slovakia. It was pretty close to the border, but probably still in Austria. (Ed. – It looks like a Pinzgauer 710M.)

Unfortunately, I was a bit too busy to do any real automotive photography. So these are just a few snaps I was able to take.